One of the benefits of quantitative easing was that as bond yields cratered, it required me to hunt down other yield opportunities for both myself and for readers. Not that I particularly enjoyed having to look elsewhere — but hey, it’s what you do for yield. Still, the hunt has led me to some interesting discoveries, some of which involved creative or specialty lending firms, real estate investment trust hybrids, and closed-end funds I usually don’t look at.
None of those asset classes are your regular rank-and-file stocks, but then, neither are their dividend yields. So, let’s take a look at three of these high-yielding stocks, and the wrinkles that make them tick: BlackRock Municipal Income Trust II (BLE) - BLE Dividend Yield: 7%, Franklin Street Properties (FSP) - FSP Dividend Yield: 6.1% and American Capital Senior Floating (ACSF) - ACSF Dividend Yield: 5.4%.